Knitting Updates

It's rainy and gloom outside today and it totally zaps all of my ambition.  I did however get up and go to the Y, so that's a start.

Since today is starting to slip away from me I think it's going to be spent catching up on my knitting.  I just finished the best mittens ever.  The are knit out off super fine alpaca and lined with mohair and silk.  They are super warm and will keep my hands toasty warm when the weather finally drops to a seasonably temperature.

This is a super easy mitten pattern, and they're fast.  You can find it on Ravelry.com as a free PDF download it's called Delicious Mohair Lined Mittens.  I lined mine in a fun contrasting color.  It's like a secret surprise.

I also need to get knitting on some test knitting I'm doing for NoTwoSnowflakes.  I'd love to blog more about it, but I'm sworn to secrecy.  It's a really awesome project though and as soon as I can say more I will.

On top of test knitting I need to finishes this cardigan:

It's the never ending project, but I guess that's what I get for deciding to design and knit a garment in lace weight yarn.  At least it's with size 6 needles.  Don't worry I'm not that crazy, I would never knit this with size 2 needles.

I've started some swatching for spring patterns.  Lots of garments are being designed and, fingers crossed, knit up for the spring on Blue Betty.  I'm going to have to knit like the wind, but here's hoping for some pattern releases starting sometime in late February.

What  projects are on your needles?

Monday's Technique Tuesday: Swatches, Row Count

I can not say enough how important it is to swatch before you start.  With the excitement of a new project who wouldn't want to jump right in, but hold your horses, take a deep breath and swatch with your yarn and needles first.  Last time we looked at stitch count, and today we are going to look at row count.  Now some may say row count is not as important as stitch count, (sometimes I do feel that way), but when it comes to decreasing or increasing you should really have an accurate row count

We are going to look st the same swatch that we looked at for stitch count.

The length from top to bottom of the stockinette section is 4 inches:

Start at the bottom and count the stitches that forma a vertical row:

In this swatch there are 24 stitch in 4 inches:

Divide the number you got by the number of inches and there you have it your row count. for this swatch the row count is 6 rows per inch.  A helpful tip is to use a straight edge to line up you vertical row of stitched it allows you to better read the row you want to count.

Technique Tuesday: Swatching I

Like I said yesterday I am a big advocate for swatching.  It is really important whether you are designing your own knit item or using a designer's pattern.  Everyone's gauge is different and swatching allows you to see if you need to make any adjustments to the needle size or stitch count. Swatching also lets you get to know the stitch pattern you are going to use and lets you experience your yarn and get to know it before you take on your project.

There are plenty of reasons to swatch and today I am only going to talk about one of those reasons, stitches per inch.  When you knit a swatch you want to make sure that the swatch is about 4 to 5 inches in width and height.  If you are using a pattern there will be a suggested gauge of usually 2 to 4 inches you want to knit about an inch to two inches more than this suggested gauge so that you can get an accurate measurement.  If you are looking to find a certain yarn's stitch per inch look at the ball band, there is usually a suggestion of an amount of stitches to 4 inches or to 10 centimeters,  this is a good place to start.  If a suggested gauge is 20 stitch to 4 inches when you cast on for your swatch you will want to cast on about 30 stitches.

  Here is a basic swatch in a worsted weight yarn on size US 8 needles knit in stockinette.  I cast on about 28 stitches for this swatch.  This gives me plenty of room to measure.

I like to measure from the 2 inch mark on my tape to the 4 inch mark.  Line up your tape so that you have a row of stitches between the two inches on the measuring tape.  Then count the stitches all the way across.  If a stitch is cut in half at the end of the tape it will be added into the stitch count as a 1/2 of a stitch.

Here's a better picture of the stitches I counted.  I got 10 1/2 stitches to 2 inches.  This means that my stitch per inch count is 5.25 stitches for one inch.  The quarter, half and three quarters of a stitch are very important and should be taken into account when trying to figure out your stitches per inch.  This is also why you measure across multiple inches, it makes it easier to find your true gauge. 

Now if you were using a pattern and you had too many stitches per inch you would go up a needle size till you got the right count.  Inversely if you had too few stitches per inch you would go down a needle size till you got the count you were looking for.  It makes a big difference if you are 5 stitches to the inch or 6 stitches. 

Swatches!

Here are the fruits of my knitting labor this past week.  Swatches!  I am a big advocator for swatching when it comes to knitting, whether it is your pattern or other designers pattern.  I won't get on my soap box about swatching till tomorrow, but I thought I would share the lovely little squares I've been knitting. 

Nagellini Project

Here is the swatch and ball of Nancy's Hair (all the color with our the commitment). I've finished the hat and started on the mittens last night and I am whizzing though them. I plan to have the set of patterns knit and finished by the end of the week. If I keep knitting like I have been I should be done with the mitts by Friday.

The swatch in the picture looks a little wired because it is two swatches in one. I started with a US 4 needle and then switch to a US 6 needle for the second half of the swatch. There is a garter stitch ridge in between the two swatches and four yarn overs in one so I know it was knit with the US 4 and six yarn overs in the second half so I know it was worked with a US 6. I tend to swatch like this a lot, because that way I can see how the yarn knits up with different needles or sometimes with different stitches, and I can compare with out rummaging around for a bunch of different square swatches.